DELIGHT THAT REMOVES DARKNESS!!

Delight that removes darkness!

Verse for Today: Thursday, July 07, 2011
Psalms 01:02 - But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

The objects for delight and true happiness that this world provides seem like soap bubbles. They are short-lived and imminently disappear. They come with false hope and are momentary. It fills human life with a series of false hope and a procession of frustrations and grief. But God offers man a permanent source of delight and blessedness which is in the Word of the Lord. It is written to portray the source of true happiness which is the Person of Jesus who came to this world as Word incarnate. He took all the grief and pain of man and nailed it to the Cross with Him. His life has offered man a new life of true blessedness as a free gift. It is available for the asking to those who receive it willingly. He is the living Word and in Him we can find true source of contentment and delight. His Word is never-changing and is eternally permanent. It comforts, strengthens, encourages, corrects, rebukes and instructs us in the true pathway that He wants us to tread in which He walks with us. There is a thrill in walking with Him to the edges of His ways. He wants us to seek His mind in His Word which turns our weeping into joy unspeakable and our tears into praise. As night falls, when all the earthly sources of happiness shut their doors, the Lord and His Word can still be enjoyed because of its timelessness. His Word is powerful because all the power of God Almighty is embodied in it through His Spirit. Each word in the Word is powered with the power of God. There are specific reasons why each word is used in its grammar, tense and usage so that it can cause us to rejoice in a crooked world which denies us the privilege to be happy.

Dear friend, please know that when the world shuts its lights on you during your lonely nights, the Lord comes to you with His Word to give you a song in the night. He always has special messages for you to capture to meet the requirements of all your moments no matter how difficult they are. His Word is loaded with promises with the signature of the Almighty which attributes greatest surety and assurance for its fulfillment. The Word explains your every situation and answers all the puzzling questions you have about your circumstances, situations and relationships. It gives you directions and counseling to keep going when you reach confusing intersections in life. The Word has the power to transform your life so much so that you will interpret your situations from the eternal perspective rather than the temporal. It thus helps you to understand your situations from God's angle rather than from the earthly angle. Today God's word challenges you to delight in the Word day and night so that it will give you strength to keep going in spite of your difficult circumstances. Situational happiness will disappear when situations change, but the happiness that God provides will linger in spite of situations. The Word gives you process happiness because it explains why you are going through your present experiences which are ordained of the Lord to help you to grow spiritually. Today let us endeavour to enjoy the Lord and His Word which are the windows through which we see the realities of life. When the world turns its lights off on us, the Lord will send His eternal light to us through which we can see Him who is the Light of Life and Light of the world to help us keep delighting in Him.

Psalms 94:19 - When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

Thought for Today
The delight caused by the divine Word in our hearts drives the dark clouds away from our horizon.

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THE GUIDE WHO GOES BEFORE!!

THE GUIDE WHO GOES BEFORE!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Matthew 2:9 - ...the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

It is amazing to see that God had appointed a star just to guide these Magi who went in search of the Prince of Glory to worship Him. It was a recognizable star for those truly sought after the Lord of the Universe. They could see the star only when they looked up. It was a moving star and it went always ahead of the seekers so as to give them continuous guidance. The maker of the stars and the moon had already given them clear instructions as to how fast it should go and when and where it should stop. This heavenly traffic signal sent from God made the way of these Magi easily predictable. But for a moment, they looked into the palaces of the kings of the world to see if they would find the King of Glory any where there. Little did they realize that the King has given up His glory for a short time so that He could save the people God so loved. He was born in an unusually lowly place. The Magi would have been shocked with surprise and amazement at the place where the King was lying. It is equally amazing that the star went ahead of them as they kept riding the camels. The same God is our Lord who goes ahead of us to show us the way. He prepares a way for us and goes ahead to make sure that we do not loose track of the path that He has chosen for us. There are several distractions around us and so He stands guard on both our right and left and also travels behind us so that we would not take detour or retreat. This is because He has a specific travel plan for us to follow. Even when we do not look at Him or look for Him, He is out there to show us the way. But we will miss Him if we do not look and ask Him to open our eyes of understanding. If we get distracted, He will still open a way for us to see the reality at the right time and bring us back to the right way so as to reach the right destination. He is our travel companion and guide who leads us to walk with Him by looking at Him.

Dear reader, do you feel that you have lost the way forward in any aspect of your life? Are you unable to discern the pathway that you are commanded to tread? In your personal walk, are you feeling like groping in the dark for direction? Learn to look at the Lord who has gone before you to prepare the way. He knows the yet unknown track of the rest of your pathway, but has prepared it for you to tread. There might be temptations to look for your destination in the higher places or powers of this world. There might be short-cuts around which are popular, prestigious, prominent and prosperous. But these are not the places that your Lord wants you to look. If you look at these, you will be thoroughly disillusioned just like these Magi. Your detours can cause a lot of heart-ache to you and others. Look at how the whole Jerusalem along with Herod was disturbed and frightened! See how many innocent children were massacred and how many mothers experienced pain at the death of their children, all because of the look by these Magi! Look at the delay their wrong looks have caused them! We are instructed to look at the star only and trust that this star can lead us whether the day is bright or cloudy. The star can still guide us to our destination. We should not take our eyes off the Lord who has gone before us and look at any easy way out of our situations. There is nothing that He cannot do and even when we think that time is running out on us, He can still lead us to the right way, right jobs and right persons which are designed for us by the Master Designer. Let us heed to Him, fix our eyes on Him. At the same time, let us take our hands off and allow Him to design, articulate and guide each step of our way for His glory.

Hebrews 12:2 - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Thought for Today
Looking at the wrong person or direction can cause us delay, frustration and heartache.

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HOPE FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW!!

Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Matthew 02:05 - Herod asked them where the Christ was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea', they replied.

It was no accident that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was the house of bread, but the people of Bethlehem and Judea were starving for spiritual bread. Jesus, the bread of Heaven, came down to Bethlehem to feed the spiritually hungry people with heavenly bread so that they would find satisfaction and meaningfulness in their lives. Bethlehem was a place of heart-ache as it was where Jacob lost his Rachel. Bethlehem witnessed the murder of innocent children by Herod which plunged their mothers into ceaseless tears and grief. So Jesus came to Bethlehem to come to grip with the realities of pain, misery, tears, heart-ache, separation and frustration, to turn it all into victory through His death on the cross of Calvary. Today when we look at Bethlehem, we find hope, strength and courage to face the stark realities of our lives. No matter how hopeless our situations and circumstances are, there is hope in Jesus for the future because He is there in all our tomorrows. The Prince who was born in Bethlehem centuries back is our Prince of Peace who touches our lives today to give us victory over our circumstances. He takes all our infirmities on Himself and finds lasting solutions to all our heart-aches. Bethlehem is known today as the city of David who marched from victory to victory because He trusted in this Lord who came to take control of his situations to give him victory. He wants us to be princes and princesses to rule with Him in all our circumstances. He wants us to find victory over our cloudy circumstances because the grace and power demonstrated in the manger in Bethlehem is available for us to draw upon.

Dear friend, are you experiencing heart-ache, pain, frustration or hopelessness today? Are there dark clouds in your horizon so that you find it difficult to see the golden rays of hope? Just as Jacob, you probably have no one to share your grief and misery with. But your Lord is with you and He rules in your heart to give you His peace which passes all understanding. He wants to reassure you today that He is the Prince of Bethlehem which He converted into a place of plenty of God's blessings. He has turned the tears of Bethlehem into songs of victory which He will help you sing by faith. He will send His golden rays of hope in to your horizon when His wind will blow on your circumstances to dramatically change it. Are you spiritually hungry? Come to Him and devour from the exhaustive reservoir of His Word to give you deepest contentment. Nothing in this world will give you the kind of satisfaction that He can give from His Word. If you feel thirsty, do not go to the broken cisterns of this world which will make you thirsty again. But drink from His living water for eternal quenching of your spiritual thirst. He is a never changing Friend who wipes your tears and fills you with joy unspeakable. No matter what your circumstances and needs are today, He is able and willing to meet it abundantly. By coming down to Bethlehem, Jesus speaks to us today about His all-sufficiency to meet all our needs and to take us forward from victory to victory. Bethlehem speaks to us today about a Savior who meets all the needs in all circumstances for His glory. Let us today go to Bethlehem through Calvary and get ourselves enriched by Him.

Psalms 36:8 - They feast in the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights.

Thought for Today
Jesus wants to capture our affections and conquer our hearts to fill it with Him so that we can find fulfillment of all our desires.

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UNLEARN AND LEARN FROM THE MASTER!!

Unlearn and learn from the Master

Verse for Today: Saturday, July 04, 2011
Psalms 25:5 - Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.

Experience is often considered a great teacher. As we go through the various experiences in life, we learn great lessons which help us to do or refraining from doing certain things in future life. For the child of God, these experiences are ways by which our God leads us on a daily basis. He takes us through these ways to teach us spiritual lessons in faith and trust in Him. We are not to waste these learning experiences which our Lord designs for us with specific purposes. He taught people like Abraham, Jacob, David, Nehemiah, Paul, David and others marvelous life principles through experience. As we go through life by walking with Him each day, He teaches us newer lessons through newer and different experiences. These experiences often become harder day by day. An experience today with its lessons doesn’t mean that we have completed our learning and have graduated. Each lesson has its own uniqueness. Learning these lessons in life through bitter and painful experiences is not easy at all. Job had to learn the worst way, but that helped Him to realize that all things are possible for our Lord. Nehemiah earned lessons of persistence. Gideon learned that the Lord will work even in our nothingness. Abraham learned that faith accomplishes the impossible. The disciples learned to trust the Lord in all circumstances. David learned to sing even in the midst of harsh experiences and when there was seemingly no hope. Peter learned to sleep at the brink of imminent death. John learned to receive revelations in loneliness. If we are keen, we can all learn such lessons each day in the experiences that our Lord takes us through to strengthen our faith and trust in Him and to progress into learning greater lessons in the days to come. We never complete the course in one or two days, but it is a life-long opportunity until we graduate into His presence to dwell there forever. We also need to do a lot of unlearning so that our slate will be clean for Him to write newer and dynamic spiritual lessons.

Dear friend, are you aware of the fact that you are on a life-long course of learning as you walk with the Lord each day? You are given the privilege to walk hand in hand with your Teacher. He has useful lessons to teach you to strengthen your spiritual life. The mundane things in life like food, clothing and shelter are His provisions on the way so that you can focus on the greater lessons He wants you to learn rather than on the basic needs. You need to develop a thirst for newer spiritual lessons each day as the deer pants for the brooks of God. He wants you to trust Him no matter what your circumstances and situations are. Unless you are willing to take His yoke of learning, it would not be possible for you to learn. As you learn lessons, He gives you opportunities to put it into practice every day and continue to learn newer lessons. He taught Abraham great lessons in faith which helped him to know Him as Jehovah-Jirah at Mount Moriah. Jacob learned great lessons of brokenness at Peniel and Hebron, and later in Egypt. Joseph learned great lessons in faithfulness all through his life which helped him save the whole world, but God used him to primarily save the genealogical link of Abraham to Jesus. Let us today not become weary of learning lessons that our Master wants us to learn. His lessons are neither to hurt us nor to cause pain and misery, but to help us learn unforgettable lessons about Him and His ways. He wants us to desire such learning experiences each day. Let us today seek to learn from Him and enrich our lives of faith so that we can trust in Him better every day in all our circumstances.

Psalms 25:9 - He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

Thought for Today
In mercy He teaches us, but we need to learn in grace and practice in humility.

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GREAT PROSPECTS FOR THE WEAKEST!

Great Prospects for the Weakest

Verse for Today: Sunday, July 03, 2011
Matthew 1:16 - Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ

It is amazing to see how God chose to use a weak vessel like Mary to create a pathway for Jesus to come to this earth. Mary was a country teenager from very poor upbringing and had nothing to boast about her background, family, culture, education or wealth. She lived in a culture where women were not regarded highly by the society. Her willingness to submit to God to use her as God's pathway for Jesus entailed issues related to dignity, public respect, social acceptance and prospects for a family life. Yet she was willing to be used of God in whatever way it pleased Him. But it is marvelous how God was willing to use such a downtrodden and unknown character like Mary. Who would have ever thought that she would become the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ? Who would have imagined that she would be an instrument for Jesus to perform His first miracle at Cana? But this is how our God works even today. He uses unusual people from unusual circumstances in unusual ways to glorify His name and accomplish His purpose. Will any thing good come out of the lives of the unknown, unpopular, unworthy people like us? Will He use those of us who are not rich, wise, prestigious, prominent and respected for His use? Yes, He is willing to use us for His glory if we are committed to Him and if we give Him full freedom to use us the way He is pleased. The world is often amazed at the way He uses useless people like us for His glory.

Dear friend, have you ever felt that you are a person with no usefulness to any one and to God in particular? Perhaps you come to such a conclusion because you remember how blatantly sinful your past was. But rest assured that if you have given your heart to Jesus, He will NEVER remember your past. He will look into your future with its prospects if you are committed to Him, and will make use of you for His glory. If you look at the great saints of God, you will see that they all had sinful past and had feet of clay. The lives of great saints like Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Moses, David, Peter, Paul and others were stained with sin. But God washed it all and made them white as snow. He willingly forgot all their past failures and caused their future lives to become victorious because they had faith to trust in the God of all possibilities. What God had accomplished in these lives was impossible with man, but was possible through the grace of God. When God is allowed to pour His power on to our lives and change us, He will be able to use us for His glory as He used Mary, Elizabeth, Ruth, Esther, Hannah, Lydia, Priscilla and other ordinary women. When God is in your life, your prospects for accomplishing great things for God are unimaginably high and the result will be amazing. Perhaps the world around you has written you off. It is likely that members of your family, your church, friends and neighbours have stamped you as obsolete and unusable. But God can still use you mightily and bring glory to His name. Today let the life of Mary challenge us not to write us off and continue to surrender ourselves for God to use us for His glory. This ought to encourage us to trust in the God of opportunities who is waiting for our surrender so that He can use us. What will you say to Him today?

1 Corinthians 1:27 - But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Thought for Today
The weakest life has the best prospects when it is fully surrendered in the hands of the Almighty who created it.

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GOD OF HOPE IN A HOPELESS WORLD!

God of Hope in a hopeless world

Verse for Today: Saturday, July 02, 2011
Matthew 1:11 - Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of exile to Babylon.

Babylonian exile was a time of great spiritual famine for God's people. There was no worship or singing among them. They were oppressed and suppressed. They were lonely for the Word of God and for spiritual activities. The enemies of God's people probably thought that this was the end of the people of God. Even though the captivity was God's plan to discipline His people, His hand of mercy was also upon them. His promises were still active for them. Outwardly it was a time of hopelessness, depression, loneliness, rejection, insecurity, pain and misery. But God was still working in and through them to fulfill His plans for them. This bracket period in the history of God's people was a time of great revelations through His servants Daniel and others. God continued to speak to them and did not ignore them. They paid the price for disobedience and God continued to shower the abundance of His grace to them. Even during the years of captivity, the genealogy of the Messiah continued uninterrupted. It only shows that man's unfaithfulness to God will not deter His plans and programs for and through them. It also points towards His faithfulness to His people because He is a benevolent God who has compassion over His people. So the disobedience of God's people and their exile to a land without worship and Word would not in any way stop God from doing what He has intended to do through and for His children. The lineage of David continued and children were born in the family of Abraham, Jacob, Judah and David to keep the link going towards the Messiah. God works in our lives too in times of utter hopelessness and brings bright hope for the future.

Dear reader, are you going through a time of spiritual dryness and hopelessness? Is your experience one of loneliness, rejection and isolation? Are you friendless and depressed with dark clouds in your horizon? Perhaps you are going through it because of your own disobedience and that the Lord is chastening you. But His chastening hands are loving hands too and these were the hands which were submitted to the nails on the cross at Calvary for you. These hands will discipline you, but will not destroy you. The Lord will see to it that His plans for you will be accomplished without hindrance. He will give you hope as you see newer things happening in your life. Just as Jeconiah's birth brought hope among God's people even during the captivity, God is sending you signals and messages to remind you that your life is not hopeless. The bright Son will still dawn on you with His rays full of hope. These years of captivity of your circumstances, difficulties, loneliness, depression and dark clouds will soon vanish and He will refurbish your spiritual life with His Spirit who is the Spirit of Hope. His light will rekindle your life to spiritual brightness through which He will show the way forward. You will be reinstated in His path and the present bracket period will come to an end. His reservoir of faithfulness will never run dry and His fountain of loving kindness will shower blessings on you. So dear friend, cheer up! God has not given up on you. You should not be tempted to give up or quit. There is hope in the One who is the same yesterday and today and forever. The Great Conductor of music in your life will pick up the baton after the intermission and start the orchestra of your life once again and it will cause you to give glory to the Lord.

Lamentations 3: 22 & 23: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Thought for Today
No matter how dark the cloud is, the Son will shine through it to brighten the lives of His children who patiently wait for Him.

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A FAITHFUL GOD TO ALL GENERATIONS!

A Faithful God to All Generations

Verse for Today: Friday, July 01, 2011
Matthew 1:1 - This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham. (NLT)

The generations of Adam started well but ended in sorrow and misery. They had the privilege of being born in the family of God, but they willfully chose to de-link with this great family and became part of the families of sinful man. This has caused man to perennially suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually. But God was not willing to let man go off like this forever and showed His kindness to man by reestablish the family link. He came to Bethlehem as a baby and thus established that link. In His body, He took all our sorrow and misery and paid the penalty of our sins to make us all linked with God again. God never forgot us even when we forgot Him and rejected Him. The God of timelessness entered into time. God of infinity broke into the lineage of the finite man and offered to take all our miseries, pain, sorrow and frailties forever on a daily basis. Today we have the freedom to touch God through this genealogical link whose name is Jesus. He had no beginning, but He willingly entered into humanity with a beginning so that we can have a new beginning. In Him we have the answers to all the challenges we face in this life. He is our partner in all that we go through because we are now linked with the Almighty as His beloved children. But this privilege becomes ours only if we take it by faith by trusting Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Today the opportunity is available to us. We do not need to carry our burdens all alone as He is willing and capable to carry it for us and with us because in Jesus we are in the genealogy of God.

Dear friend, today you and I have the privilege to enjoy all the blessings of the heavenly places through Jesus Christ our Lord. We do not need to go it all alone, but have been given the opportunity to travel with Him. Today He bears our miseries and sufferings. He has an answer to all our difficulties and will reveal His will in all that we go through for His glory. He walks with us and holds our hands. He keeps us as the apple of His eyes and holds us close to Him. In Him, we are safe, secure and sacred. He is with us as a loving companion as we tread the narrow way to reach our destination by faith. He keeps reminding us that we are His beloved in the new generational link He has established for us. He has linked us with God and all His resources to meet all our needs today and all the days that are ahead of us. He is sufficient for all our needs and helps us to meet all our challenges in life. He remembers that we are dust, knows all our frailties and infirmities and handles us accordingly. As we are in His genealogy through re-birth, He treats us as princes and princesses. Today there is no greater thrill than walking with Him and enjoying His presence, friendship and provisions for our needs. Let us walk like the children of the Great King of Kings and enjoy our walk in spite of our situations and the challenges we face. Remember, you and I are today linked with the Almighty through Jesus Christ. So let us walk worthy of the call with which we are called and enjoy His provisions for our use and for His glory.

Psalms 90:1 - Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

Thought for Today
God's faithfulness to His children is based on His benevolence and not on their merit or qualifications.

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